Last week, Texas passed a law effectively banning abortion after the sixth week of pregnancy, and the Supreme Court did not immediately strike it down. Both pro-life and pro-choice advocates have erupted in response. But what does the law really mean? Phil, Skye, and Kaitlyn get into the weeds and explain why the Texas law isn’t the victory many assume.
Then, Christina Dent shares about her unexpected journey from a conservative, Southern, Bible school graduate, to drug legalization advocate. She tells Skye about the unexpected casualties caused by America’s war on drugs, and what a more Christian response to the crisis could look like. Plus, China bans kids from playing video games. Is it a smart policy we should copy, or proof that communism is evil?
News Segment:
News of the Butt - Doctors find ladybug living inside man’s colon [4:05]
China bans kids from playing video games during the week [9:51]
Recent abortion law in Texas - overview & discussion [19:52]
Interview with Christina Dent:
End It For Good: https://www.enditforgood.com Christina Dent's TEDx talk: https://www.ted.com/talks/christina_dent_end_the_war_on_drugs_for_good
Holy Post Episode 433 with Bonnie Kristian: https://www.holypost.com/post/episode-433-ending-the-war-on-drugs-with-bonnie-kristian
Interview Start [52:52]
Christina’s story [53:43]
It’s not about the drugs [57:40]
Childhood risk factors for drug use [1:00:52]
Would legalizing drugs solve any problems? [1:03:41]
The question of demand [1:09:48]
Why legalize all substances? [1:21:10]
Common objections to policy changes [1:27:11]
Authoritarian regimes might be able to move quicker than democratic ones, but does that make them more efficient, as Skye says? In the short term, perhaps, but they're less effective. Governments are prone to "the knowledge problem," which means they won't have all the information they need to make the best decisions. https://fee.org/articles/the-use-of-knowledge-in-society ...
Rep. Dan Lipinski (cited by an article Phil quoted) is not a Republican but a Democrat — perhaps the last pro-life Democrat in Congress (he lost to a pro-choice candidate in the 2020 primary).
As for names, it's easy to use names to "win" an argument without trying. Oppose an expanded welfare state? You're anti-life. Oppose legal restrictions on abortion? You're pro-abortion. See how easy it…
Long time listener, first time commenter:
Great podcast as usual, I want to thank all of you for bringing new amd inspiring insights that I would most likely not hear somewhere else.
Welcome dialogue, as always...
small quibble: China's "authoritarianism" was "soft" with Hu, Jiang. Xi stopped being soft about 5 years into his regime and with removing his "term limit", he's heading toward Maoist personality-cult autocracy. Why is "Winnie-the-Pooh" a banned image? Why are videos of people making room for something to back up political dissent that goes too far? And the tight fist that's squeezing Hong Kong shows the rest of the fallacy there. And "efficiency" is what people praised Mussolini for: "the trains run on time."
echoing other objections: "pro-life" vs. "pro-choice"; and given the ethical ambiguity of abortion-opponents on other arguably "pro-life" issues (war, capital punishment, inequality), it'd be more honest to call them "pro-choice" vs. "anti-choice".
Lead…
Listening to these conversations on abortion and the war on drugs after last week's Voxology episode framing Old Testament law as the the "ideal" and the "real". This wrestling through current event topics and how to think about them and the kinds of law policies we should then support feels like a current events outworking of that real and ideal mindset. ...to that end I would LOVE to hear a conversation between the hosts of the two shows talking through the ideal, the real, and how that effects wise policy with these current issues.
Dear Skye, We're not "pro-abortion." We're pro-choice. Texas is not "pro-life." Texas is pro-birth. Let's be clear.